Luang Prabang In Depth: Villages, Rivers and Crafts

Every part can be changed to suit your group.

1. Day 1 Arrival and Sunset on Mount Phousi

   We meet you at Luang Prabang airport and take you to your hotel in the old town. In the late afternoon we walk along the peninsula between the Mekong and the Nam Khan rivers, past French colonial houses and temples, then climb the 328 steps of Mount Phousi to watch the sun set over the town and the hills. The evening is free to explore the night market. The town is small and easy to explore on foot, with French colonial houses, temples and cafes lining the streets between the two rivers. Your guide gives you a short briefing about the days ahead and some tips for exploring on your own in the evening.

   
2. Day 2 Temples and Old Town Life

   We visit Wat Xieng Thong, the most beautiful temple in Luang Prabang, with its sweeping roofs and glass mosaics, and the Royal Palace Museum. We walk to smaller temples where young monks study and live, and talk with them if they are willing. In the afternoon we cross the bamboo bridge over the Nam Khan and explore the quiet villages on the other bank. Many young men in Laos spend some years as novice monks to study and learn, and the temples are lively places of learning as well as worship. The bamboo bridge over the Nam Khan is rebuilt every year after the rainy season, and the villages on the other side are quiet and green.

   
3. Day 3 Village Trek and Cooking Class

   A gentle morning walk through fields and forest to Khmu and Hmong villages above the town, where families farm rice and vegetables on the hillsides. We return for lunch and then visit the morning market to buy ingredients with a local chef, who teaches us to cook Lao dishes such as laap and jeow dips. We share the meal together in the evening. The Khmu and Hmong villages are home to families who moved down from the higher mountains, and they farm rice, corn and vegetables on the slopes. The cooking class is relaxed and hands-on, and you take home the recipes. Lao food uses lots of fresh herbs, sticky rice and spicy dips.

   
4. Day 4 The Mekong to Pak Ou

   A day on the Mekong. We take a long wooden boat upstream, stopping at Ban Xang Khong, a village of weavers and mulberry paper makers, and at a riverside village known for its rice whisky. We continue to the Pak Ou caves, filled with thousands of Buddha statues left by pilgrims, and return in the golden late afternoon light. Ban Xang Khong is known for its handmade mulberry paper and woven silk and cotton, and you can watch artisans at work in their homes. The Pak Ou caves sit in a limestone cliff above the river, and the lower cave is filled with Buddha statues of all sizes, some hundreds of years old.

   
5. Day 5 Kuang Si Waterfall and Departure

   We drive out early to the Kuang Si waterfalls, where turquoise pools step down through the forest, and walk the trail before the crowds arrive, with time to swim. On the way we visit a bear rescue centre near the falls. We return to town for lunch and then transfer to the airport. Early morning is the best time at Kuang Si, before the day visitors arrive, when the light is soft and the water is calm. The bear rescue centre near the falls cares for Asiatic black bears saved from poaching. Your guide will make sure you reach the airport in good time for your flight.